LG GSA-4120B - The Plextor 712A Killer?

[MadBurner]

My interests have pretty much turned towards the LG GSA-4120B now rather than the PX-712SA. I do not see a solid reason to own both drives and since the LG supports DVD-RAM, that will most likely be the drive I purchase since it looks like both drives will be available sometime in June.

MadBurner

[ClayBuster]

Better fix your Sig.

[minchin]

Damn.... DVD+R DL? AND DVD-RAM.... this is the real ALL in ONE Drive man....
Time to save up for this drive....
After owning the Plexy 708A for a while, I am not really that impressed with Plextor's stuff that much anymore.... (I came from a long history of Plextor CD-RW, 2-3 SCSI model then this Plexy)
yes, I know that I am using Memorex inconsistent quality DVD+R 4x.... but having yet another drive that needs to oc the media isn't what I would expect Plextor to do too well....

Min

[dolphinius_rex]

Hmmm, why Plextor over LG?

1. Firmware upgrades (see above)
2. P-CAV vs Z-CLV
3. SATA vs PATA

I'm not sure how LG's DVD burners are doing with firmware, they are working a lot harder on the DVD burners they make then the CD burners in the past.... Maxell is pushing them a lot harder (of course Maxell and LG are both owned by Hitachi )

P-CAV vs. Z-CLV may not be a bigger issue then speed

3. S.A.T.A. (Something Aviationwiz Toots Alot) vs. P.A.T.A. (Pathetic According To Aviationwiz)

[MadBurner]

Better fix your Sig.

I still have not cancelled my pre-order for the drive just yet. I could always put it in my other computer

MadBurner

[Laher]

basically this drive should kill off not only plextor, but lite-on and sony also on their new DL drives!

[cfitz]

3. S.A.T.A. (Something Aviationwiz Toots Alot) vs. P.A.T.A. (Pathetic According To Aviationwiz)

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

Hmmm, why Plextor over LG?

1. Firmware upgrades (see above)
2. P-CAV vs Z-CLV
3. SATA vs PATA

Hmmm, why LG over Plextor?

1. Writing quality.
2. Writing quality.
3. Writing quality.

oh and almost forgot,
4. DVD-RAM support.

[aviationwiz]

Plextor is the king of quality, all of the LG drives I have seen haven't compared at all to the Plextor equivalent. Only nice thing is the DVD-RAM support, which I would NEVER use, and neither would many other people. All of the LG drives suck like that Plextor 40x CD-RW that sucked.

[pranav81]

3. S.A.T.A. (Something Aviationwiz Toots Alot) vs. P.A.T.A. (Pathetic According To Aviationwiz)

cfitz

I second that.




::Pranav::

[pranav81]

Yeah,Plextor is king of quality,for a premium price.I have owned a lot of LG drives and have upgraded the firmware thousands of times on all those drives,without killing even one.
LG drives are cheap and offer good quality,for me atleast.



::Pranav::

[dolphinius_rex]

I've been unhappy with Plextor ever since my first Plextor Purchase (the Plextor Premium CD Burner). Ironically, the Plextor Premium is the second most expensive drive I own (second to my Pioneer DVR-107 only), and the least commonly used drive. In fact, up until I got my second computer, I didn't even have it hooked up regularily. I almost didn't even hook it up when I got the second computer either, it was a toss up between the Plextor Premium and a nearly dead LiteON 24101B that was recently given to me. I ended up siding with the Plextor, but it was pretty darn close.

The only reason I might be interested in the Plextor 712a is the error checking ability, but given the Plextor Premium's error checking abilities, and software limitations, I have a feeling I will be totally disappointed with it. After the reports I've seen on the Plextor 708a, I certainly wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Plextor is any kind of quality drive.

LG is proving themselves as a quality drive maker in the DVD burner industry. LiteON is self destructing practically. And Plextor is doing whatever the heck they feel like. But the thing is, that's actually NORMAL for Plextor!

[shimman]

if lg's 4120b's compatability & writing quality is good, i will get one for sure. it might be slower than 712, but i don't think plextor would have improved compatability of 712 dramatically. 708a was way too picky for me.

lg's quality is very good from my experience; they are known for quietness, too.

for sata lovers & ieee1394a lovers, there are pata to sata & ieee1394a converters designed for internal drives for about 20-30usd. my buddy is using the converter for his burners, and it worked very well.

for pcav lovers, check optorite dd0405 with the new firmware, it does pcav from 6x to 8x
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Article ... 5&Series=0

i only wish that lg adds pi/po jitter for dvd

cannot wait to try 4120b

[Halc]

What a hilarious discussion. Why do we have to bicker about which one is better? They are just drives :)

We will see which one is "better", when they arrive, have been tested, have been firmware upgraded some times and thoroughly used with various media.

And even after that, some will pick the one that is considered "worse" by others.

I for one will buy the Plextor only to test media.

I wouldn't mind if it didn't burn at all. If it burns really nicely, that's a bonus for me.

But I'm surely not going to declare it winner not now and probably not after I have bought it.

Just the fact that there isn't a single all encompassing winner on the market right now, makes me think that there won't be such in the near future either (as new DL and speed standards are being adopted and everybody will stumble).

As for writing quality. I haven't seen low level measurements from either drive, so I think it is still too early to tell :)

[Scour]

Hello!

I have good experiences with Plextor and LG-drives. But the FW-support by Plextor is much better than with LG, but LG is cheaper.

Let´s wait until Ian review both writers

[Ian]

Pictures are working now..

[dodecahedron]

why are the pictures not working?

Ian, what's the firmware on the drive? it's kind of hard to see in that pic.
N08F?
not very in line with LG's usual firmware naming scheme, is it?

[socheat]

why are the pictures not working?

From what I can tell, I think it's a change in the new phpBB code. When using the phpBB img tags, they check for an image file extension (.jpg/.gif, etc). It will only display the image if an extensions exists. I modified our code that loads images from the database to account for this, and should work now.

[Ian]

why are the pictures not working?

Ian, what's the firmware on the drive? it's kind of hard to see in that pic.
N08F?
not very in line with LG's usual firmware naming scheme, is it?

The version of phpBB doesn't like images without an extension. Why it still works with my old posts is beyond me.

Since this seems to be an engineering sample, its probably an early version of the firmware. Then again, they might have changed it. I really dunno. I haven't been able to get much info out of LG. My contact has been MIA the last few days.

[MediumRare]

Ian,
have you tried the new beta of CD/DVD speed with this drive? Does it support PI/PO and/or jitter reports?

G

[Ian]

Ian,
have you tried the new beta of CD/DVD speed with this drive? Does it support PI/PO and/or jitter reports?

G

No, I haven't. If I have some time tonite, I'll see.

[shimman]

of course Maxell and LG are both owned by Hitachi

don't know about maxwll, but lg is not owned by hitachi. Hitachi-LG Data Storage is a joint venture of lg electronics & hitachi(hitachi holds 51% & lg holds 49%) drives are designed & developed by lg with components from hitachi. lg sold its semiconductor unit to hyundai semiconductor...now hynix

because of hitachi, lg's drives got worse than they could have

[Shredder]

3. SATA vs PATA

As I said in my previous post, if Plextor uses PATA-to-SATA adapter, it may lack of the features of SATA which resembles SCSI which means it makes very little performance improvement (given that SATA controller has better throughput and low resource usage than PATA controller) if any. Possibly better airflow within the system because of thin SATA cables.

[dr_st]

I'll still go with LG. No reason whatsoever to change a winning horse. Then again, my next DVD burner will probably be one of those next-gen burners which can put more than 4.37 gigs on the CD, so that can take a while.

[dolphinius_rex]

of course Maxell and LG are both owned by Hitachi

don't know about maxwll, but lg is not owned by hitachi. Hitachi-LG Data Storage is a joint venture of lg electronics & hitachi(hitachi holds 51% & lg holds 49%) drives are designed & developed by lg with components from hitachi. lg sold its semiconductor unit to hyundai semiconductor...now hynix

because of hitachi, lg's drives got worse than they could have

Funny, that's not what Maxell says...